So, what do the professional think? Ted Codd is sadly no longer with us to give an opinion but happily Tony Williams asked Chris Date the following question:

Tony: Finally, I have to ask: When Chris Date wants to build a database, what product does he turn to? Do you have time for consumer-level products such as Access? Do you think they have a place?

Chris: My lawyer has told me to say “No comment” to this one. Seriously, I do have a policy of never answering this question directly; I'm only too aware of what might happen if I were thought to be endorsing some specific product. (Did you expect anything different?) So all I can do is offer some platitudes: Even though they're all deeply flawed, you do have to use one of the existing DBMSs, because they're all that's out there - they're the only game in town… pretty much (though I'm being a little unfair here to at least one product, Dataphor from Alphora, which does constitute an attempt to implement the ideas of The Third Manifesto). Which particular product you choose will naturally depend on your own specific requirements (and yes, it might be one of the “consumer-level” products such as Access).

Which doesn’t answer the question directly, but it does tell us that Chris has a sense of humour as well as a sense of proportion.®

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